Claude Rains

William Claude Rains (10 November 1889  30 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Dr. Jack Griffin in The Invisible Man (1933), he appeared in such highly regarded films as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Wolf Man (1941), Casablanca and Kings Row (both 1942), Notorious (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).

Claude Rains
Trailer for Now, Voyager (1942)
Born
William Claude Rains

(1889-11-10)10 November 1889
Clapham, London, England
Died30 May 1967(1967-05-30) (aged 77)
Laconia, New Hampshire, U.S.
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom - United States
Alma materRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActor
Years active1900–1965
Spouse(s)
Isabel Jeans
(m. 1913; div. 1915)

Marie Hemingway
(m. 1920; div. 1920)

Beatrix Thomson
(m. 1924; div. 1935)

Frances Propper
(m. 1935; div. 1956)

Agi Jambor
(m. 1959; div. 1960)

Rosemary Clark Schrode
(m. 1960; died 1964)
Children1
Parent
  • Fred Rains (father)

He was a Tony Award-winning actor and was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Rains was considered to be "one of the screen's great character stars"[1] who was, according to the All-Movie Guide, "at his best when playing cultured villains".[2] During his lengthy career, he was greatly admired by many of his acting colleagues, such as Bette Davis, Vincent Sherman, Ronald Neame, Albert Dekker, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Charles Laughton and Richard Chamberlain.

Early life

William Claude Rains was born on 10 November 1889 in Clapham, London.[3] His parents were Emily Eliza (née Cox) and the stage actor Frederick William Rains.[4] He lived in the slums of London, and, in his own words, on "the wrong side of the River Thames".[5] Rains was one of twelve children, all but three dying of malnutrition when still infants. His mother took in boarders in order to support the family. According to his daughter, Jessica Rains, he grew up with "a very serious Cockney accent and a speech impediment"[6] which took the form of a stutter, causing him to call himself "Willie Wains".[7] His accent was so strong that his daughter could not understand a word he said when he used it to sing old Cockney songs to her or purposely used it to playfully annoy her. Rains left school after the third year to sell newspapers so that he could bring the pennies and halfpennies home for his mother. He sang in the Farm Street Church choir, which also brought him a few pence to take home.

Rains in his captain's uniform during the First World War

Because his father was an actor, the young Rains would spend time in theatres and was surrounded by actors and stagehands. There he observed actors as well as the day-to-day running of a theatre. Rains made his stage debut at age ten in the play Sweet Nell of Old Drury[8] at the Haymarket Theatre, so that he could run around onstage as part of the production. He slowly worked his way up in the theatre, becoming a call boy (telling actors when they were due on stage) at His Majesty's Theatre and later a prompter, stage manager, understudy, and then moving on from smaller parts with good reviews to larger, better parts.

A 23-year-old Rains in one of his early theatre roles, 1912

Early career and military service

Rains moved to America in 1912 owing to the opportunities that were being offered in the New York theatres. However, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he returned to England to serve in the London Scottish Regiment,[9] alongside fellow actors Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, Herbert Marshall and Cedric Hardwicke.[10] In November 1916, Rains was involved in a gas attack at Vimy, which resulted in his permanently losing 90 percent of the vision in his right eye as well as suffering vocal cord damage.[11] He never returned to combat but continued to serve with the Bedfordshire Regiment. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of captain.[11]

After the war ended, Rains remained in England and continued to develop his acting talents. These talents were recognised by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the founder of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Tree told Rains that in order to succeed as an actor, he would have to get rid of his Cockney accent and speech impediment. With this in mind, Tree paid for the elocution books and lessons that Rains needed to help him change his voice. Rains eventually shed his accent and speech impediment after practising every day. His daughter Jessica, when describing her father's voice, said, "The interesting thing to me was that he became a different person. He became a very elegant man, with a really extraordinary Mid-Atlantic accent. It was 'his' voice, nobody else spoke like that, half American, half English and a little Cockney thrown in."[12] Soon after changing his accent, he became recognised as one of the leading stage actors in London. At age 29, he played the role of Clarkis in his only silent film, the British film Build Thy House (1920).

During his early years, Rains taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). John Gielgud and Charles Laughton were among his students. In an interview for Turner Classic Movies, Gielgud fondly remembered Rains:

I learnt a great deal about acting from this gentleman. Claude Rains was one of my teachers at RADA. In fact he was one of the best and most popular teachers there. He was extremely attractive and needless to say, all the girls in my class were hopelessly in love with him. He had piercing dark eyes and a beautifully throaty voice, although he had, like Marlene Dietrich, some trouble with the letter 'R'. He lacked inches and wore lifts to his shoes to increase his height. Stocky but handsome, Rains had broad shoulders and a mop of thick brown hair which he brushed over one eye. But by the time I first met him in the 1920s he was already much in demand as a character actor in London. I found him enormously helpful and encouraging to work with. I was always trying to copy him in my first years as an actor, until I decided to imitate Noël Coward instead.

Career

In London theatre, he achieved success in the title role of John Drinkwater's play Ulysses S. Grant, the follow-up to the same playwright's Abraham Lincoln. Rains portrayed Faulkland in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals, presented at London's Lyric Theatre in 1925. He returned to New York City in 1927 and appeared in nearly 20 Broadway roles, in plays which included George Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart and dramatisations of The Constant Nymph and Pearl S. Buck's novel The Good Earth (as a Chinese farmer).

Rains with Mary Kennedy in Camel Through the Needle's Eye on Broadway, New York City, 1929

Although he had played the single supporting role in the silent, Build Thy House (1920),[1] Rains came relatively late to film acting. While working for the Theatre Guild, he was offered a screen test with Universal Pictures in 1932. His screen test for A Bill of Divorcement (1932) for a New York representative of RKO was a failure but, according to some accounts, led to his being cast in the title role of James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) after his screen test and unique voice were inadvertently overheard from the next room.[6][13] His agent, Harold Freedman, was a family friend of Carl Laemmle, who controlled Universal Pictures at the time, and had been acquainted with Rains in London and was keen to cast him in the role.[14][15] According to Rains' daughter, this was the only film of his he ever saw. He also did not go to see the rushes of the day's filming "because he told me, every time he went he was horrified by his huge face on the huge screen, that he just never went back again."

Rains signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. on 27 November 1935 with Warner able to exercise the right to loan him to other studios and Rains having a potential income of up to $750,000 over seven years.[16] He played the villainous role of Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Roddy McDowall once asked Rains if he had intentionally lampooned Bette Davis in his performance as Prince John, and Rains' only smiled "an enigmatic smile." Rains later revealed to his daughter that he'd enjoyed playing the prince as a homosexual, by using subtle mannerisms. Rains later credited the film's co-director Michael Curtiz with teaching him the more understated requirements of film acting, or "what not to do in front of a camera."[17] On loan to Columbia Pictures, he portrayed a corrupt U.S. senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. For Warner Bros., he played Dr. Alexander Tower, who commits murder-suicide to spare his daughter a life of insanity in Kings Row (1942) and the cynical police chief Captain Renault in Casablanca (also 1942). On loan again, Rains played the title character in Universal's remake of Phantom of the Opera (1943).

In her 1987 memoir, This 'N That, Bette Davis revealed that Rains (with whom she shared the screen four times in Juarez; Now, Voyager; Mr. Skeffington; and Deception) was her favorite co-star.[18] Rains became the first actor to receive a million-dollar salary when he portrayed Julius Caesar in a large-budget but unsuccessful version of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), filmed in Britain. Shaw apparently chose him for the part, although Rains intensely disliked Gabriel Pascal, the film's director and producer.[19] Rains followed it with Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) as a refugee Nazi agent opposite Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Back in Britain, he appeared in David Lean's The Passionate Friends (1949).

Rains in Notorious (1946)

His only singing and dancing role was in a 1957 television musical version of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin, with Van Johnson as the Piper. The NBC colour special, broadcast as a film rather than a live or videotaped programme, was highly successful with the public. Sold into syndication after its first telecast, it was repeated annually by many local US TV stations.

Rains remained active as a character actor in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in films and as a guest in television series. He ventured into science fiction for Irwin Allen's The Lost World (1960) and Antonio Margheriti's Battle of the Worlds (1961). Two of his late screen roles were as Dryden, a cynical British diplomat in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and King Herod in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), his last film. In CBS's Rawhide, he portrayed Alexander Langford, an attorney in a ghost town, in the episode "Incident of Judgement Day" (1963).

He additionally made several audio recordings, narrating some Bible stories for children on Capitol Records, and reciting Richard Strauss's setting for narrator and piano of Tennyson's poem Enoch Arden, with the piano solos performed by Glenn Gould. He starred in The Jeffersonian Heritage, a 1952 series of 13 half-hour radio programmes recorded by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters and syndicated for commercial broadcast on a sustaining (i.e., commercial-free) basis.[20]

Reception

Jessica Rains remembered her father's work ethic:

He was interested in the process (of film). He loved acting. When he came to California to do a film, I had to "hear him his lines" as he drove me to school every morning, 10 miles. He knew everybody's part. He knew the whole script before he came out (to film). I don't think many people did that.

Bette Davis in an interview with Dick Cavett said about Rains:

Well, of course he petrified me. The first time I played with him was in Carlotta (Juarez), and I had to make an entrance [into] the King of France's domain for a rehearsal, and he's playing the King of France (N.B. The character is actually the Emperor of the French Napoleon III) in rehearsal. As all of us "other era people," we don't just run through lines and say "turn the camera", we rehearse beforehand...Anyway Claude and I couldn't, and he was the King of France who loathed Carlotta, and I was a kid and petrified of Mr. Rains, so I thought he hated me. I didn't know he was playing the character. I thought, he thinks I just stink! What am I going to do? Eventually we worked together quite a lot and became really great friends, really great friends.

Davis later went on to describe him: "Claude was witty, amusing and beautiful, really beautiful, thoroughly enchanting to be with and brilliant." She also praised his performances: "He was marvelous in Deception and was worth the whole thing as the picture wasn't terribly good, but he was so marvelous and the restaurant scene where he's talking about all the food...brilliant, and of course in Mr. Skeffington he was absolutely brilliant as the husband, just brilliant."

Richard Chamberlain worked with Rains in what would be his second-to-last film, Twilight of Honor. In 2009, Chamberlain recorded a tribute to the actor when Rains was featured as Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month: [21]

Claude Rains has to be considered one of the finest actors of the 20th century. As soon as you hear that marvelous, unmistakable voice of honey mixed with gravel, he becomes instantly recognizable. And that scornful right eyebrow which could freeze an adversary faster than and more effectively than any physical threat. He stood at a mere 5′6″, yet his enormous talent and immense stage presence made him a giant among his colleagues. During a stage and film career that spanned six decades, Rains encompassed some of the most memorable and exciting characters ever created by an actor. Villains were a Rains specialty, particularly those of a suave and sarcastic nature; and yet when the role called for it, Rains could be remarkably moving and even add a touch of pathos without losing any of his effectiveness.

In Twilight of Honor Rains played a retired lawyer acting as a mentor to Chamberlain's character. Reminiscing about his work with Rains, Chamberlain said:

He was in his seventies then and in failing health, yet he was charming and totally professional on the set. It was clear to us that he loved practicing his craft; he dazzled us all. Claude was an extremely private man—he never discussed his humble beginnings, his six marriages. But get him into a conversation about acting, and he opened up with delightful anecdotes and fascinating stories about his long life as a thespian.

One day on the set I mentioned to him that Notorious was one of my favorite films, and Claude related with amusement the filming of a particular scene with Ingrid Bergman. Rains was a very small man and Bergman was quite tall, so in order to shoot them in close-up together (in the key scene) the resourceful Alfred Hitchcock had a ramp installed, so as Rains approaches Bergman on camera he appears taller than his co-star. Claude found this ramp business a bit embarrassing and very funny.

I got another taste of Claude's witty nature shooting a scene in his [next-to-last] film, in which he had a long piece of dialogue. Generally he had no problem remembering his lines despite getting along in years. However, there was one particularly long scene shot late at night where he was having a lot of trouble with the dialogue, and kept making excuses. And finally he paused and said with a sheepish look "Alibi Ike, good old Alibi Ike" ("Alibi Ike" being an expression based on a 1935 film of the same name, in which the lead character has a penchant for making up excuses). Of course in the finished film he played the scene flawlessly, as he always did. Claude Rains: truly a class act, on and off screen.

Many years after Rains had gone to Hollywood and become a well-known film actor, John Gielgud commented, tongue-in-cheek, "There was somebody who taught me a very great deal at drama school, and I am certainly grateful to him for his kindness and consideration. His name was Claude Rains. I don't know whatever happened to him. I think he failed, and had to go to America."[22] Gielgud later went on to recollect a time when he was in New York and in the audience during an event that included a focus on Bette Davis.

A number of clips from many of her most successful films were shown and I was particularly delighted, when, as soon as Claude Rains appeared in the close-up of one of the clips, the whole audience burst into a great wave of applause.

Bette Davis often cited Rains as one of her favorite actors and colleagues. Gielgud said that he once wrote that "The London stage suffered a great loss when Claude Rains deserted it for motion pictures," and that he later added, "but when I see him now on the screen and remember him, I must admit that the London stage's loss was the cinema's gain. And the striking virtuosity that I witnessed as a young actor is now there for audiences everywhere to see for all time. I'm so glad of that."

Personal life and death

Rains became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939. He married six times and was divorced from the first five of his wives: Isabel Jeans (married 1913–1915); Marie Hemingway (to whom Rains was married for less than a year in 1920); Beatrix Thomson (1924–8 April 1935); Frances Propper (9 April 1935 – 1956); and the classical pianist Agi Jambor (4 November 1959 – 1960). In 1960, he married Rosemary Clark Schrode, to whom he was married until her death on 31 December 1964. His only child, Jennifer, was the daughter of Frances Propper. As an actress, she is known as Jessica Rains.[23]

He acquired the 380-acre (1.5 km2) Stock Grange Farm, built in 1747 in West Bradford Township, Pennsylvania (just outside Coatesville), in 1941. The farm became one of the "great prides" of his life.[24] Here, he became a "gentleman farmer" and could relax and enjoy farming life with his then wife (Frances) churning the butter, their daughter collecting the eggs, with Rains himself ploughing the fields and cultivating the vegetable garden. He spent much of his time between film takes reading up on agricultural techniques to try when he got home. He sold the farm when his marriage to Propper ended in 1956; the building now, as then, is still referred to by locals as "Rains' Place".[25] Rains spent his final years in Sandwich, New Hampshire.[26]

In his final years, he decided to write his memoirs and engaged the help of journalist Jonathan Root to assist him. Rains' declining health delayed their completion and with Root's death in March 1967 the project was never completed.[27] A chronic alcoholic, Rains died from cirrhosis of the liver,[28] having an abdominal hemorrhage in Laconia on 30 May 1967, aged 77. His daughter said, "And, just like most actors, he died waiting for his agent to call."[29] He was buried at the Red Hill Cemetery in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. He designed his own tombstone which reads "All things once, Are things forever, Soul, once living, lives forever".

In 2010, many of Rains' personal effects were put into an auction at Heritage Auctions, including his 1951 Tony award, rare posters, letters and photographs. Also included in the auction were many volumes of his private leather-bound scrapbooks which contained many of his press cuttings and reviews from the beginning of his career. The majority of the items were used to help David J. Skal write his book on Rains, An Actor's Voice. In 2011, the ivory military uniform (complete with medals) he wore as Captain Renault in Casablanca was put up for auction when noted actress and film historian Debbie Reynolds sold her collection of Hollywood costumes and memorabilia which she had amassed as a result of the 1970 MGM auction.[30]

Filmography

Year Title Role Director Other cast members Notes
1920 Build Thy House Clarkis Fred Goodwins Henry Ainley Film debut
1933 The Invisible Man Dr. Jack Griffin/The Invisible Man James Whale Gloria Stuart, Henry Travers, Una O'Connor
1934 Crime Without Passion Lee Gentry Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur Margo, Whitney Bourne
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head Paul Verin Edward Ludwig Lionel Atwill, Joan Bennett
1935 The Mystery of Edwin Drood John Jasper Stuart Walker Douglass Montgomery, Heather Angel, David Manners
The Clairvoyant Maximus Maurice Elvey Fay Wray
The Last Outpost John Stevenson Louis Gasnier, Charles Barton Cary Grant
Scrooge Jacob Marley Henry Edwards Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, Robert Cochran Uncredited
1936 Hearts Divided Napoleon Bonaparte Frank Borzage Marion Davies, Dick Powell, Charlie Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton
Anthony Adverse Marquis Don Luis Mervyn LeRoy Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, Gale Sondergaard
1937 Stolen Holiday Stefan Orloff Michael Curtiz Kay Francis, Ian Hunter
The Prince and the Pauper Earl of Hertford William Keighley Errol Flynn, Billy and Bobby Mauch
They Won't Forget Dist. Atty. Andrew J. "Andy" Griffin Mervyn LeRoy Gloria Dickson, Lana Turner
1938 White Banners Paul Ward Edmund Goulding Fay Bainter, Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville, Henry O'Neill, Kay Johnson
Gold is Where You Find It Colonel Christopher "Chris" Ferris Michael Curtiz George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, Tim Holt Technicolor
The Adventures of Robin Hood Prince John Michael Curtiz, William Keighley Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone Technicolor
Four Daughters Adam Lemp Michael Curtiz Rosemary, Lola, and Priscilla Lane, Gale Page, John Garfield
1939 They Made Me a Criminal Det. Monty Phelan Busby Berkeley John Garfield, Gloria Dickson, May Robson
Juarez Emperor Louis Napoleon III William Dieterle Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Brian Aherne, John Garfield
Sons of Liberty Haym Salomon Michael Curtiz Gale Sondergaard Technicolor; two-reel short
Daughters Courageous Jim Masters Michael Curtiz Rosemary, Lola, and Priscilla Lane, Gale Page, John Garfield
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine Frank Capra Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Thomas Mitchell Nomination—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Four Wives Adam Lemp Michael Curtiz Eddie Albert, Rosemary, Lola, and Priscilla Lane, Gale Page, John Garfield
1940 Saturday's Children Mr. Henry Halevy Vincent Sherman John Garfield, Anne Shirley
The Sea Hawk Don José Álvarez de Córdoba Michael Curtiz Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Henry Daniell, Flora Robson, Alan Hale Sepia tone (sequence)
Lady with Red Hair David Belasco Curtis Bernhardt Miriam Hopkins, Laura Hope Crews
1941 Four Mothers Adam Lemp William Keighley Rosemary, Lola, and Priscilla Lane, Gale Page
Here Comes Mr. Jordan Mr. Jordan Alexander Hall Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Edward Everett Horton
The Wolf Man Sir. John Talbot George Waggner Lon Chaney, Jr., Evelyn Ankers, Patric Knowles, Ralph Bellamy, Warren William, Bela Lugosi, Maria Ouspenskaya
1942 Kings Row Dr. Alexander Tower Sam Wood Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field, Charles Coburn
Moontide Nutsy Archie Mayo Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell
Now, Voyager Dr. Jaquith Irving Rapper Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Gladys Cooper
Casablanca Capt. Louis Renault Michael Curtiz Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt, S.Z. Sakall, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson Nomination—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1943 Forever and a Day Ambrose Pomfret Herbert Wilcox
(sequence with Rains)
Anna Neagle, Ray Milland, C. Aubrey Smith
Phantom of the Opera Erique Claudin/The Phantom of the Opera Arthur Lubin Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster Technicolor
1944 Passage to Marseille Captain Freycinet Michael Curtiz Humphrey Bogart, Michèle Morgan, Philip Dorn, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Helmut Dantine
Mr. Skeffington Job Skeffington Vincent Sherman Bette Davis, Walter Abel, George Coulouris, Richard Waring Nomination—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1945 Strange Holiday John Stevenson Arch Oboler Barbara Bate, Martin Kosieck,
This Love of Ours Joseph Targel William Dieterle Merle Oberon
Caesar and Cleopatra Julius Caesar Gabriel Pascal Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger, Flora Robson Technicolor
1946 Notorious Alexander Sebastian Alfred Hitchcock Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Louis Calhern Nomination—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Angel on My Shoulder Nick Archie Mayo Paul Muni, Anne Baxter
Deception Alexander Hollenius Irving Rapper Bette Davis, Paul Henreid
1947 The Unsuspected Victor Grandison Michael Curtiz Joan Caulfield, Audrey Totter, Constance Bennett, Hurd Hatfield
1949 The Passionate Friends Howard Justin David Lean Ann Todd, Trevor Howard
Rope of Sand Arthur "Fred" Martingale William Dieterle Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre
Song of Surrender Elisha Hunt Mitchell Leisen Wanda Hendrix, Macdonald Carey
1950 The White Tower Paul DeLambre Ted Tetzlaff Glenn Ford, Alida Valli, Oskar Homolka, Cedric Hardwicke, Lloyd Bridges Technicolor
Where Danger Lives Frederick Lannington John Farrow Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Maureen O'Sullivan
1951 Sealed Cargo Captain Skalder Alfred L. Werker Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges
1952 The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By Kees Popinga Harold French Märta Torén, Marius Goring Technicolor
1956 Lisbon Aristides Mavros Ray Milland Ray Milland, Maureen O'Hara Trucolor
Naturama
1957 The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Mayor of Hamelin Bretaigne Windust Van Johnson, Lori Nelson Technicolor
1959 This Earth Is Mine Philippe Rambeau Henry King Rock Hudson, Jean Simmons, Dorothy McGuire Technicolor
CinemaScope
Judgment at Nuremberg Judge Haywood George Roy Hill Maximillian Schell, Paul Lukas, Melvyn Douglas Playhouse 90
1960 The Lost World Professor George Edward Challenger Irwin Allen Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, David Hedison, Fernando Lamas, Richard Haydn Deluxe color
CinemaScope
1961 Battle of the Worlds Professor Benson Antonio Margheriti Bill Carter Colour
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Mr. Dryden David Lean Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle, Arthur Kennedy, José Ferrer Technicolor
Super Panavision 70
1963 Twilight of Honor Art Harper Boris Sagal Richard Chamberlain, Nick Adams, Joey Heatherton, Linda Evans
1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told Herod the Great George Stevens Max von Sydow, plus many cameos Final film

Discography

YearTitleRecording Company
1946The Christmas TreeMercury Childcraft Records
1948Bible Stories for ChildrenCapitol Records
1950Builders of AmericaColumbia Masterworks
1952[31]David and GoliathCapitol Records
1960Remember The AlamoNoble Records
1962Enoch ArdenColumbia Masterworks

Radio appearances

YearProgrammeEpisode/source
1952Cavalcade of AmericaThree Words[32]
1959 Playhouse 90 Judgement At Nuremberg

Notable theatre performances

Rains starred in multiple plays and productions over the course of his career, playing a variety of leading and supporting parts. As his film career began to flourish, he found less time to perform in the theatre in both England and America.

Year Play title Role Theatre Notes
1900Sweet Nell of Old DruryChildHaymarket TheatreStage debut, aged 10 as an "unbilled child extra "running around a fountain."
1901HerodChildHis Majesty's TheatreUnbilled
1904Last of the DandiesWinklesRains' debut speaking role in the theatre
1911The Gods of the MountainThahnHaymarket TheatreShared role with Reginald Owen
1913The Green CockatooGrassetAldwych TheatreStage Manager as well
TyphoonOmayiHaymarket TheatreFirst heavy character role
1919ReparationIvan PetrovitchSt. James's TheatreStage Manager as well
Uncle NedMearsLyceum TheatreThis supporting role marked Rains' return to the stage after being wounded in WWI
1920Julius CaesarCascaSt. James's TheatreErnest Milton played Brutus
1925The RivalsFaulklandLyric HammersmithAccording to John Gielgud, Rains' second wife Marie Hemingway joined the cast for a brief period, thereby bringing Rains' first 3 wives together in the same dressing room.
1926The Government InspectorThe InspectorGaiety TheatreProfessional debut of his RADA student, Charles Laughton
1926Made in HeavenMartin WalmerEveryman Theatre, LondonThis was Rains' last appearance on the London Stage.
1951Darkness at NoonRubashovAlvin Theatre/Royale TheatreWon Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
1954The Confidential ClerkSir Claude MulhammerMorosco TheatreRains' first wife, Isabel Jeans played the role of Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer in the 1953 Edinburgh premiere.
1956Night of the AukDoctor BrunerPlayhouse TheatreFeaturing Christopher Plummer

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards
Year Category Nominated work Result
1939 Best Supporting Actor Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Nominated
1943 Casablanca Nominated
1944 Mr. Skeffington Nominated
1946 Notorious Nominated
Tony Awards
Year Category Nominated work Result
1951 Best Actor in a Play Darkness at Noon Won
Drama League Awards
Year Category Nominated work Result
1951 Distinguished Performance Darkness at Noon Won
Grammy Awards
Year Category Nominated work Result
1963 Best Spoken Word Album Enoch Arden Nominated

See also

  • List of actors with Academy Award nominations

Citations

  1. McFarlane, Brian. "Rains, Claude (1889-1967)". BFI screenoline. Retrieved 30 December 2015. From McFarlane's Encyclopedia of British Film, London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p.545
  2. Erickson, Hal (2016). "Claude Rains". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  3. "Rains, (William) Claude (1889–1967)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/55624. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. Wise, James E.; Baron, Scott (2002). International Stars at War. ISBN 9781557509659.
  5. Soister p. 1
  6. Harmetz p. 147.
  7. Rains, Jessica. Interview, 2000.
  8. "The Sublime Claude Rains". meredy.com. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  9. "Welcome to The London Scottish Regiment Website". londonscottishregt.org. Archived from the original on 12 April 2007.
  10. Hastings, Max (2013). Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914. William Collins. p. 486. ISBN 978-0-007-51974-3.
  11. Parkinson, David (7 November 2018). "Roll of honour: 15 movie legends who served in the First World War". BFI.org.uk. British Film Institute. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  12. Rains, Jessica (2000). "Extras". Phantom of the Opera (Interview) (2004 DVD ed.). Universal Pictures.
  13. Weaver, Tom; Brunas, Michael; Brunas, John (2007). Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Wut4jYBtUdsC&pg=PA102 102].
  14. Skal and Rains Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, p.48-9
  15. Weaver, Tom; Brunas, Michael; Brunas, John (2007). Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Wut4jYBtUdsC&pg=PA79 79].
  16. David J. Skal, with Jessica Rains Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008, p.61-62
  17. Harmetz p. 190.
  18. Davis and Herskowitz 1987, p. 26.
  19. Shipman, David (1989). The Great Movie Stars: 1, The Golden Years. London: Macdonald. p. 487. ISBN 978-0600338178.
  20. "The Jeffersonian Heritage," Broadcasting-Telecasting, 8 September 1952, 36 (trade advertisement).
  21. "Richard Chamberlain on Claude Rains -- (TCM Original) September, 2009". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  22. Morley, Sheridan (2001). John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography. Simon & Schuster. p. 50. ISBN 9781439116173.
  23. Skal and Rains, p.104
  24. "Claude Rains' Scrapbook Devoted to His Farm, Stock - Lot #49362 - Heritage Auctions". Heritage Auctions.
  25. "Thinking about Claude Rains and the pastoral Stock Grange Farm". 8 March 2020.
  26. Duckler, Ray (31 March 2012). "A Star's Last Act: The great Claude Rains spent his final years in New Hampshire". Concord Monitor. Archived from the original on 13 September 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  27. Schickel, Richard (20 November 2008). "Rains was never a minor character" via LA Times.
  28. "Rains was never a minor character". Los Angeles Times. 20 November 2008.
  29. T. Soister, John (19 July 2017). Claude Rains: A Comprehensive Illustrated to His Work in Film, Stage, Radio, Television and Recordings. ISBN 9781476612782.
  30. "Claude Rains "Captain Louis Renault" ivory military suit from Casablanca". iCollector.com Online Auctions.
  31. "Claude Rains - David And Goliath" via www.45cat.com.
  32. Kirby, Walter (17 February 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 40. Retrieved 1 June 2015 via Newspapers.com.

General sources

  • Harmetz, Aljean (1992). Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of "Casablanca" (hardcover) (First ed.). Westport, CT: Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-56282-941-4.
  • Soister, John T.; Wioskowski, JoAnna (2006). Claude Rains: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference to His Work in Film, Stage, Radio, Television and Recordings (softcover) (Reprint ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2855-7. OCLC 41580407.
  • Skal, David J. (2008). Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (hardcover) (First ed.). Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5. JSTOR j.ctt2jcg4f.

Further reading

  • Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Claude Rains". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 215–217. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.
  • Felice, Carmella (2006). The Life and Times of Claude Rains (softcover) (First ed.). Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4259-5301-0.
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